1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fuel pump module mounted in a fuel tank, which stores fuel, and for mainly supplying the fuel stored in the fuel tank into an internal combustion engine and particularly to a fuel pump module for detecting the residual amount of fuel in a fuel tank. The invention also relates to a vehicle residual fuel detector for detecting the residual amount of fuel in a fuel tank.
2. Description of the Related Art
A fuel pump module according to a related art is formed in such a manner that a mount bracket for mounting the fuel pump module on a fuel tank is attached to a pump portion with a filter in which a fuel pump and a fuel filter are integrated. In the fuel pump module, a sender gauge is attached to the mount bracket. The sender gauge has a detecting portion formed of a variable resistor, a float portion, and an arm portion extended from the detecting portion and connected to the float portion (e.g., see patent literature 1).
On the other hand, a pressure sensor is provided in a mount bracket for mounting a fuel pump in a fuel tank so that the pressure sensor can be mounted easily (e.g., see patent literature 2).
[Patent Literature 1]
JP-A-Hei.11-294283 (pages 3 to 4 and FIGS. 1 and 2).
[Patent Literature 2]
JP-A-Hei.4-325316 (page 3 and FIGS. 2 to 5).
Since the sender gauge in the related art is of a float type, a rotation radius of the arm corresponding to the depth of the tank is required so that the fuel pump module becomes large structurally. Moreover, the shapes of the arm portion and the float portion adjusted in accordance with the shape of the tank are complex. For this reason, the operation of assembling the fuel pump module is complicated and a large returnable box is required for transporting the fuel pump module. Moreover, much labor and time is required for incorporating the fuel pump module into the fuel tank.
In addition, a connector for sending/receiving signals to/from the outside of the in-tank pressure sensor is required independently. For this reason, the place for attaching the fuel pump module is limited as well as much labor is required for attaching the fuel pump module into the fuel tank.